BREAKING - Passengers on an American flight from Atlanta to Puerto Rico captured one of the closest videos of the Artemis II launch from their plane, and it’s going massively viral, with some commenters expressing concern about how close the plane was to the rocket.
This Airbus A320 crew decided to
skip the traditional de-icing procedure and instead relied on aerodynamic forces to shed residual frost and contamination during the takeoff roll and initial climb.
While aerodynamic heating and airflow can, in some cases, remove thin layers of frost from lifting surfaces, this practice is generally discouraged even small amounts of contamination can severely degrade lift, increase stall speed, and compromise takeoff performance.